Shard of Glass
by battante
Summary: "He deserves a pearl that he can take care of and keep shiny and love and be proud of. I am not a pearl." "Okay, so if you're not a pearl, what are you?" "I'm a shard of glass."


I own nothingg.

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Freddie stared at Carly as Sam quickly got into the elevator and left. They had just finished filming iCarly and Sam had all but sprinted away, like she had been doing for the past two weeks. And it was all because of what Freddie had asked her.

The day the drama started, they had been on the roof, just the two of them. Freddie realized they were at the spot where they had first kissed, but Sam wasn't thinking about that. She only came up here so she could test out her new paintball gun on the innocent civilians bellow. Of course, she had filled it with small water balloons as to not seriously harm anyone, but she didn't really care if anyone did get hurt. It would be their fault for standing in the way, and it's not like anyone would know it was her. If she got caught, she'd just blame it on Freddie. She was just about to shoot the first balloon when Freddie interrupted her.

"Sam, I need to talk to you."

"So talk, dipthong." She didn't look at him when he spoke; she was too busy trying to aim on her unlucky target.

"Sam, I'm serious. Would you pay attention to me?" Freddie grabbed the paintball gun from her and set it aside. He looked down at her angry face, waiting for her to calm down so he could say what he needed to say.

"Fine. Spit it out." She growled at him. She waited for him to get himself together. He looked nervous and like he was about to pee himself. What a nub.

"Go out with me?" He had mumbled it, looking down at his shoes.

"What? How do you expect me to hear you if you're whispering?" Freddie sighed.

"Will you go out with me?" He said it clearly this time. He looked at her, waiting for a response. Her face was in shock. And then it went back to normal.

"Ha, you almost got me. Was that for stealing all the hot dogs out of your fridge?" She had grabbed the paintball gun and started to aim it again.

"No, Sam, I'm serious. Will you go out with me?" He put down her gun again.

"Look, Freddork, it's not funny the second time around."

"Listen to me! I'm not joking. I want to go out with you. What do you say?" She didn't say anything.

Instead, she punched him in the arm. Hard.

"Are you serious now?" She had asked him.

"Yes. And you can punch me again and again, but I'll still ask the same thing."

She was furious at him then, why wasn't he giving it a rest already? She did what he said and punched him repeatedly. He could have stopped her, being a lot taller and now stronger than she was, but he didn't. He had let her continue to punch him and he had kept asking her the same question until she gave up and shot him with her paintball gun. She made sure he was soaking wet before she left, pissed and annoyed.

The next day, Sam acted like nothing had happened. She went on with her usual messing with Freddie. She even seemed happy. Until he asked her again. She had yelled at him, told him to knock it off already and punched him some more. He kept asking her and she left again.

Sam's level of messing with Freddie had increased the next day. He was severely pranked and embarrassed at school, and when the final bell rang, Sam had asked him if he was ready to apologize. He had replied by saying he did nothing to offend her and asked her again. She slammed him into a locker and went home.

Sam started avoiding him the next day at school. She wouldn't respond to his text messages or answer when he called. So Freddie showed up on her doorstep. She had answered the door and thought that he had come to finally apologize for, as she had put it, "being a stupid, nubby, asshole who didn't know when to drop it". He said he definitely had not come to her house to say that and had asked her again. She slammed the door in his face.

For the next week, Freddie tried to talk to Sam again. He went to her house again, but no one answered the door. He continued with his usual texting and calling, too. But she kept ignoring him. She had even stopped taunting him. She had started to leave right after iCarly finished and she was never around Carly's apartment when Freddie came. Sometimes he'd see her sprit out the door, but that was all.

Carly had been attentively watching whatever it was that was happening between Freddie and Sam since it started two weeks ago. They had both come to her and told her what was happening, having learned it best not to keep secrets. Freddie told her that Sam kept rejecting him and Sam told her that Freddie kept messing with her. Carly was sick of it and decided to do something about it today. She had devised a plan with Freddie and it was about to start.

The three of them had just finished filming iCarly and this time, Freddie left first. Seeing his absence, Sam decided to stay.

"Well, now I don't have to leave." She said as she relaxed on one of the bean bag chairs in the studio.

"I don't understand why you're avoiding him, Sam." Carly sat next to her.

"I've told you, he keeps messing with me."

"He's asking you to go out with him. How is that messing with you?"

"Carly, that's exactly how he's messing with me. He's insulting me by asking me that. I bet he wants me to say yes and then he'll laugh at me, saying he'd never go out with me and that he can't believe I actually thought he was serious."

Carly studied her best friend and realized she was lying.

"You know he's serious."

"What? I just told you what I think."

"No, you lied to me. I know I can tell when you lie; your lips twitch the tiniest bit after you speak." Sam scowled at her.

"Fine. I lied. So what?"

"So why are you avoiding him then, if you know he's really asking you? Why don't you just say you don't want to go out with him?"

"I didn't say I didn't want to go out with him." Carly gasped. Sam looked away from her and stared at the large monitor in the room.

"Well if you do want to go out with him, why aren't you saying yes? Are you scared?" Carly was growing frustrated with her. Sam glared at her.

"I am not scared of silly Fredward Benson, Carly."

"Fine, so you're not scared. Why aren't you saying yes?" Sam sighed.

"Because I can't be like you for him." Carly stared at her, completely surprised.

"He doesn't want you to be like me. You know he doesn't like me anymore. And besides, he wouldn't have asked _you_ if he didn't want _you_."

"I don't mean literally like you. I mean all fluffy and sweet like you. And dedicated and there for him and all that crap. We've already tried making me into a daffodil and we all know that didn't last long." Sam had a disgusted expression on her face.

"Sam, why don't you understand? He's known you for a long time, the real you. And Freddie likes that. He wants the you that you are, and he doesn't expect you to change if you go out with him."

"Sure, if you say so. But he deserves better. He deserves…" Sam's eyes roamed around the room as she was searching for the right word, "He deserves a pearl,"

"A pearl?"

"Yeah, a pearl. He deserves a pearl that he can take care of and keep shiny and love and be proud of. I am not a pearl."

Carly decided to humor her, "Okay, so if you're not a pearl, what are you?" Sam was quiet for a moment, thinking.

"I'm a shard of glass. A broken, jagged shard of glass. I've got cracks in me and I have sharp edges. I'm fragile, too. He won't be able to take care of me or make me look any better. He won't feel proud with me because of all my sharp edges and I'd just hurt him with them."

"What if he wants to try?"

Sam sighed at her and got up.

"Whatever. Thanks for trying to make me feel better, Carls, you're really awesome. But this is getting way to sappy for me. I'm gonna head out." She turned towards the elevator when the studio door opened and Freddie came in. She groaned and her pace quickened but he reached her before she got to the elevator. He grabbed her shoulders with both hands. Carly took this opportunity to leave.

"Sam, stop. I was listening to everything."

"So now you're a creeper on top of being a jerk?" Sam glared at him as she tried to get out of his grip.

"You know I'm not being a jerk. Stop trying to get away and just listen." He stopped talking until she finally stilled.

"I don't want you to change. Ever. You don't need to be anything different or special for me. I like you and all the punching, insults, and bacon that come with you. And I hate pearls. I've always hated them because when I was little, I tried to eat my mom's pearl necklace and I chocked on it. She freaked out and got rid of every single one of them and she wouldn't let me play with anything circular after that, not even a frisbee, but that's not the point. I don't like pearls because they're too shiny, too pretty. It's like they're just there to be admired. I would much prefer a shard of glass. I think the cracks make it beautiful. I think the jagged edges give an alluring sense of danger to it and remind me to never be careless around it. Its fragility makes me think about how I handle it. Basically, a shard of glass is much, much more appealing than a stupid, boring pearl." Freddie held her gaze and moved his hands so that they were holding hers.

"Are you done with your monologue, nub? This isn't a soap opera." Sam said it with a smile. His own smile broadened.

"Actually, I have one more thing to say. Will you, Sam Puckett who loves meat and giving others pain and is not a boring pearl, go out with me?" Sam looked away from him. They stood holding hands in silence for a while.

Then she finally looked up at him, directly into his eyes… and punched him in his still recovering arm. He winced but waited because she opened her mouth to speak.

"Yes."

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Two stories in one day? I am on a roll :)


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